Dying to Belong (TV Movie 2021) Poster

(2021 TV Movie)

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6/10
Unexpected
nightroses2 February 2022
The first half of this movie was happy and cheerful but then all of it suddenly changed. It went really dark, then sad, creepy and scary. It shows how disturbing college hazing really is.
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1/10
Nope!
missraze7 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
1/4 of the way through, and they decided to water down initiation rituals. You MUST recite sick and bizarre manifestos and mantras in a secret location to say the least in order to join any greek org and most frats and sors. And the film didn't show this. They showed weirdness after they joined, which was cute, but didn't show what initiations are really like. And who are these people turning a cheek to something called "Hell" week...? Or casually saying the words "Hell Week"? This is just sad. If you're trying to inform people and veer them away from this lifestyle and subculture (which really has ruined humanity because people force themselves to operate in denial of the hazings they led/went through everyday) then dancing delicately around it is a problem. I know members who denounced their membership, and each of them separately break down everything on their own yet all of their recollections are identical. So why make a film about awareness if you're going to lie to people. Weak. And don't say it has to be appropriate for TV because the subject matter alone is inappropriate and Lifetime shows erotic scenes and murders and abuse all the time.

Of course I will keep watching to update my review fairly, but regardless of how the film ends I'm giving it a one star for perpetuating lies. I don't care about exposing college culture because humanity insists on failing by continuing the culture in all aspects of our everyday lives and I'm powerless and hopeless that it will get better, but I care about others who half-expose and DECEIVE.

The character Paige (the sickest soror of all) needed a background. They just showed her being mean. No, not good enough. Why was that little girl so intent on leading violent hazings? The movie made it seem like she just has this rare character flaw; of course she's flawed but she's like that because her family is. She probably represents a real life "legacy" or someone whose family did weird sick crap to enter college/a college org themselves and normalized or even expect her to violently haze. But of course Lifetime (a station I usually love) is too afraid to make a true piece on this topic because the board members of the network are probably in frats and sors lol. They are scared to break the silly pacts they made when reciting those chants in order to join, poor things. And then in the film, the characters lament, "It's Paige" with "it" being, the degrading/dangerous things they have to do (of course watered down by Lifetime). No...no no no no. "It's" not "Paige." "It's" the sorority culture.

But the film doesn't show that. It just shows the obsession to want to join and to keep secrets "safe" as the characters' personal flaws, rather than their immoral obligations to even more immoral traditions and fear, which are the real motives in real life. The film keeps flower dancing around the reality like a hippie dancing around a tree and keeps trying to give the soror demons redeemable qualities like having them say "defend your sisters and brothers" as if that doesn't sound weird and creepy and psycho. Then the black girl who's going undercover in the sorority as a journalist TOLD someone she's undercover.

Pfft! GOODBYE!

And they so insisted on the black girl joining because she would make them look good. A critical thinker would see this plain as day, but if you're just watching and not seeing then ok.

The issue with the world is *that most people who have done you or others harm or who sabotage you or who negatively influence you directly (or indirectly/backstabbing you) ARE in greek orgs/frats/sorors/gangs (same thing), or their spouse/partner is, or they know family members who are and feel the need to cover up for them. And this film takes it lightly. Then the girl died but due to causes according to the film that were unrelated to actual hazing rituals. So "sure, people die while trying to join orgs--but...not because OF the org. Just a tragedy that happened with a member who decided to do this crime." The pressures of joining an organization don't exist in this film's world, and to them it's just a lil drinking, just walking on a wooden board over a lil glass, just a lil cattiness, just a lil jogging, just a lil fall, just a lil night out in the woods, just a lil cold water. When in reality it's a alcohol poisoning and spiked drinks, walking on ACTUAL glass and not a silly board, life ruining gossip, running till you can't run anymore and still made to run, getting pushed down, abandoned far away and made to walk back in the freezing cold. The film literally sees all this as a laughing matter and I know some immature "sisters and bros" wrote or financed this. Well go on then. Go join because "Lifetime made it seem not too bad."

*What I really wanna know is...why? Why join these things? Can't you network and embark on a successful career path without being a complete evil weirdo for the rest of your life by tightrope walking THROUGH the rest of your life while carrying this secret on your shoulder all because you or a relative joined a cult? You poor, poor sick little thing.
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8/10
Better than I thought
firebolt-0551723 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Thought this would be yet another run-of-the-mill Lifetime sorority movie, but this film hits different. It still has some of the usual tropes, but it doesn't ruin the integrity of the film itself.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Even though you just know that one of the main characters will meet a terrible fate, the first half of the film does a great job of building things up before the moment happens. I love this because it makes the death even more gut-wretching because the movie took its time for you to know and grow to like the character.
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